Keeping Promises
by EagerTurtle
Summary: Jimmy Novak dies the night of The Rapture and Claire request to take his place. Being the only one left with the ability to conceal the angel's grace, Castiel is left with no choice but to accept the offer. As Claire's body grows older and more human by the day, Castiel must find a way to reconcile with Dean and his strong opposition towards it.


**Chapter One**

In another life - one in which her existence was insignificant to the grand scheme of the universe - she would have been like any other girl her age. In a lot of ways, she still was. She did her homework, she worried about having nothing to wear, and stayed up too late. But it was her heritage, a birthright passed down through every generation of Ishmaelan children, that set her apart without her ever realizing it: Claire Novak was a vessel.

Specifically, she was one of the few vessels - if not, the only one now - who could retain the grace of the angel Castiel. Otherwise, she may not have been kidnapped and tied to a chair by a demon wearing her mother. Otherwise, her father would not be dying.

But her life, not the fantasy of normality built up around her - the one in which she had not been so lucky - resulted in a complete loss of faith. It had fled from her the day her father walked out the front door with someone... something... inside him. And now, two years later, when what she needed more than anything was to lay trust in a righteous power, she could find no trace of belief within herself.

Her father shouted angry words, cursing the angel's name, calling it a liar, a deceiver. It had promised. It was no better than the rest of its family. He damned it, pleaded with it, until he was choking on his own spit and blood. Until Claire was sure her father was going to die.

The demon sneered at her and Claire decided she required little faith for what she was about to do.

Claire squeezed her eyes, already filled to the brim with angry, sorrowful tears, shut. It would be the last time either of them would see this world they'd been dealt by their 'God', a world of monsters and the men who hunted them, a world where they could never live in peace. Where she would never go to college, or get married, or have her own children. A world where she would never take care of her father when he was old and gray or see him put in the ground herself.

It would all be over soon. She prayed, but not for salvation. Never for salvation. Claire, no longer a child subjected to such things, demanded an audience with the angel.

When she opened her eyes she found herself sat on the edge of her bed. The comforter, a white spread with lavender colored flora blossoming out from the center, felt real under her hands. It felt as real as the mossy carpet that tickled her curling, sock covered toes.

But she knew better. It was all an illusion made to put her at ease. It was her heaven, a picture of her home at seven o'clock when supper had finished and she was upstairs finishing homework while her parents cleaned up downstairs.

The angel's voice came to her like whispering thunder. "You are disobeying your father's wishes, Claire Novak."

She swallowed hard, her throat suddenly dry at the sound of the angel's wreckoning. "I'm not afraid of you... Castiel."

"...Perhaps you should be."

The relic did not show her remorse for what it'd done to her and her family. Instead the voice was simply shaded with a humbled guilt. It was just as well, remorse would have only made Claire all the more enraged at it.

"I'm not."

"...why?"

"Because you... because I'm ready for this to be over. I'm ready now."

"You are only an impressionable child. It is the reason I did not ask you to begin with; I will not take you now or ever, Claire Novak."

"But I'm you're true vessel, you said it yourself before you left with my dad. You thought you were showing mercy then, but you weren't. Isn't this what you want?! Me? You take me and you save my Dad, and then when we die you make a promise we'll see each other in heaven."

"What I want does not matter. The decision to serve heaven is ultimately one's own, but yours has already been determined for you. You will never be my vessel. It is the promise I made to your father in exchange for my time with him."

"That's BULLSHIT." Claire screamed up at her ceiling. "This is MY choice. You save my parents and you help those two hunters end this. I am so SICK and TIRED of you trying to protect me, all it's done is destroy my family. If I go with you then it's all over - you might be able to save the world and then everything might go back to normal. I'm willing to do this for that chance."

"I cannot guarantee you their safety in this, Claire. You must understand; I won't promise you something I cannot give you."

"You OWE me, Castiel - I deserve you to at least listen to me!"

"I have listened, Claire, and my answer is no. I am no demon. I won't steal a child who does not know any better. I will attempt to save your parents using you as my harbinger, and then you will have to live as you did before. I'm sorry, it cannot be any other way."

"NO-"

But Claire had already given herself, body and soul, and she experienced a surge of immeasurable energy. It was as vast and boundless as it was infinite, leaving a blazing fire in its wake that scorched her very soul. It was eternal, sending signals to her brain and muscles, like being shot into the sky.

At Castiel's command, the heavy rope tying her to that horrible chair snapped. Claire's hand shot out and a demon - she was unsure which - burned beneath her fingertips. Movement was all around her as the fight broke out. Claire couldn't see any of it, but she could feel it, feel the vengeance glow bright in her hand.

"Cas..." The girl heard faintly, like wind beating against the storm doors of her mind. The angel was solemn. Quiet. Staring at the bodies which laid on the cold, cement floor. "Cas, is... is that you, buddy?"

Castiel moved to Jimmy's familiar body, limp against the wall. Claire's arms reached out and wrapped around him, cradled him in her lap. But it was no use, his head lolled back without a hint of hinderance. His chest no longer rose. His eyes stared listlessly up at the angel, up at his daughter locked inside.

The demon had likewise turned her mother into a pile of broken bones.

"Alright, Cas, time to let the girl go." Claire recognized the voice to be one of the hunters. Again, she was not sure which. "You're starting to creep me out, man."

"I intended to... assume her father again," Castiel's usual air of authority shone through, but the cracks in the developing tones of Claire's voice prevailed. Breath caught in Dean's throat at the sound. "But I was... too late."

"Cas, what was it you wanted to tell me." It wasn't a question, but an accusation. A fury that Claire had never expressed before flashed across the vessel's girlish features. Castiel knew exactly what he was insinuating.

"I learned my lesson while I was away, Dean." Castiel rounded on him in a great act of defiance. Everything about the angel assured Dean of one thing: Claire was none of his concern, and if he wished to say anything more about it he could feel free to hunt her. She did not have to defend her actions to him. "I serve heaven, I don't serve man, and I certainly don't serve you."


End file.
